Today is the real beginning of our trip. The Waterloo Hostel, 55 Waterloo Street, Singapore has been a good base for us, easy communicating as most people speak English. Very handy to all local attractions, transport, markets etc. The public transport in Singapore is great, Very easy to find your way around. We purchased an Ez-Link card and travelled by train and bus around the city. We just topped our card up when it was getting low, and it was also easy to get a refund on any unused amount and the $4.00 refundable portion of the card at any MRT station.

We enjoyed the local markets and our trip to Sentosa Island, and generally just wandering around absorbing the local atmosphere which was buzzing as they were still celebrating the Chinese New Year (the year of the Rooster). The people of Singapore we found most helpful and really friendly.

We rose early and went downstairs for breaky, and then with all our documents in hand we caught a cab to Mac-Nel (KD) Terminal LTD, Keppel District, block 513 #01-126, Kampong Bahru Road, where Valukargo had our container stored. What a wonderful cabbie we had! He gave us a vivid commentary and was so impressed with what we were doing and wanted to give us a free taxi ride. Taxis are so cheap. I don’t know how they make a living. He told us there were 15,000 taxis operating on the Island & also told us about the "no black smoke from vehicles tolerance" as they have cameras installed at intersections to catch the offenders. Lawrie had to remember to be light on the accelerator as Ruefee was prone to the odd puff of black smoke.


We had to get wharf passes from the wharf police (PSA). We had our photos taken for our IDs. Luckily for us our shipping office building was right next door. Formalities over, documents in hand we headed to the wharf to seek out our container. Scanning around we spied it - so far so good. More papers to check etc and then it was time to open the container. We had about 4 willing helpers, it was just so easy, and the workers had all the tie downs released before we knew it. With fingers crossed, Lawrie fired the car up and much to our relief Ruefee started first pop. He drove it outside and the guys gave us a hand to put the roof tent back on top, and a quick check of the vehicle revealed no damage and everything was intact. Lawrie did some final checks and 2 hours later we drove out, stopping at customs for stamping of the carnet. They didn’t examine the vehicle or look in it, so we were finally away. We went back to the Hostel to collect our bags, it worked out perfectly as check out wasn’t till 12pm and it was only 11am at this point. Ruefee was all loaded up, and with water back in the tanks we hit the road, quite amazed at how easy it all had been. We had our last look at Singapore as we headed off towards the Woodlands check point for our entry into Malaysia.

We clicked our Auto Pass card, passports checked, Carnet stamped we headed over the bridge into Malaysia. Our carnet caused abit of excitement with customs officers both at the Singapore and Malaysian border checkpoints, because they had not come across them very often. At one point we had 5 policemen examining it. Again we didn’t get our vehicle or insurance papers checked. Formalities over its now time for the adventure to begin in earnest.

"Malaysia Here We Come"

We entered Malaysia at Johor Bahru. Not a very inspiring place after the cleanliness of Singapore - a bit of a culture shock really. First stop was to gas up. Speedo reading was 129,500, it cost $RM 62.00 (NZ$23.00) Great price for gas. We really wanted to get some km's behind us so we headed along the main motorway; we pulled into one of the rest stops and did some checks and adjustments. The tolled motorway was excellent, regular rest stops with clean toilets, showers, picnic tables etc at this point we could have been in any modern western city anywhere in the world.

The contrast between rich and poor is vast. The tolled motorways are 1st class, even the secondary roads are in great condition, but the driver’s well that’s another story!. Lawrie was gob smacked to say the least. You seem to just hug your chosen line and they come at you from all sides. The motorbikes are like a swarm of bees whizzing past you from all sides - middle, left and right everyone a budding Rossi. You don’t hear many horns blaring either which surprised us. Every green light is like the start of a grand prix race. All the bikes weave between the waiting cars to the start line. We have seen several motor cycle accidents and we are surprised there are not a lot more. The most we have seen on a bike is 5, Mum, Dad and 3 kids. The classic saddle bags were a 12 gallon drum cut in ½ and ½ again and strapped to both sides of the bike - seeing is believing. The stats said that in 2004 over 3070 motorcyclists were killed.


Rubbish is everywhere! We camped on the beach, it was beautiful but so much rubbish washed up on the shore. Poverty is all around, the houses some people live in are barely hanging together. That aside, the people seem really happy although in most of the remote villages their English is very limited. Then there is the other side of the coin, beautiful mansions and masses of new development going on everywhere.


In Malaysia you can buy a luxurious apartment or house for NZ$40.000, a can of coke is $0.35 however beer and wine is expensive. We found eating out is very cheap as is the shopping.

Lawrie got a parking ticket in Kuala Terengganu! That comes when u cannot read the signs! He was all in a panic as a local told him in broken English it would cost RM$400. We eventually found a sleeping policeman (A policeman asleep on the job, lying down with his shoes off snoring his head off at his watch post, looking very embarrassed when we woke him up). Lawrie showed him the ticket and he said it would cost us RM$.42 = NZ$.15cents. That must be the best parking ticket ever. We have been trying some of the local food, so far good I must say. Last nights choice had a bite to it but we are getting used to the chilies.

Ruefee's going good! Touch wood! Just chugs along and floats over the bumps. Diesel is very cheap here RM$80= NZ$.29 cents a litre and it is a much higher grade than NZ. The further north we went the more noticeable was the police presence. We were pulled over at road blocks at Nenasi and then again when we were traveling at night. In Jeli they all carried M16 machine guns which was abit unnerving. The scenery was really lush, mile after mile of palm tree plantations.

Locals were harvesting the palms for oil, so we saw huge piles of them along the roadsides and loads in trucks being transported to the factories. We also saw lots of rice paddy fields, the first of many I am sure. In this part of Maylasia, land to be honest, they didn't look to be securely tied down! Most of the transporting trucks were around 30 year old, long nosed Mercedes.

We saw monkeys coming out of the rain forest along the road sides, goats & cows freely roaming around the villages, and locals herding their stocks.

At times we felt we were in Australia driving with the red soil and the heat.

"Penang Island"

We had a couple of great days on Penang Island, treated ourselves to a couple of nights in the Evergreen Hotel, on the beach front. It was very reasonable by NZ standards - $70 a night for a 5 star hotel. It was nice to base ourselves for a couple of nights and catch up on letter writing, washing, etc. We enjoyed the Island properly because it was modern and clean in comparison to other parts of Malaysia. We met an English couple living on the Island who invited us back to their place. Paul and Kay Barber (Thanks so much for your warm hospitality) They were great! They gave us lots of travel tips and interesting information on Malaysia. Paul and Kay were the first westerners we had seen since leaving Singapore!.

"Cameron Highlands - 21/03/2005"

Today its back on the road for Cameron Highlands. Firstly we drove around the Island taking in it's lovely beaches, monkeys and lots of motorbikes. They have been having trouble with riders on motorbikes snatching bags from tourists while they are walking along the footpaths. We had been chatting to 3 motor cycle police the night before who were staking out a road hoping to catch them in the act. The traffic around the island is very hectic and crossing the road was quite a challenge. It has been nice to do lots of walking. We parked Ruefee up for the 2 days that we were on the Island.

Water is our biggest worry. While at the hotel we boiled up lots and emptied it into one of our storage containers, and also topped up the tank. You cannot drink any of the water directly from the taps.

We again hit the road. The drive to Cameron Highlands was interesting. It was high in the highlands. There were many vegetable gardens on the flat and up steep hills, no dirt left unturned, all producing lots of strawberries too In these 3 villages. Everybody drove land rovers - we have never seen such a mix and 100's of them!.

Continuing driving, we were surrounded by tea plantations. They were like mazes wandering their way up the hillsides. The cooler temperature was wonderful. We knew Paul and Jill Robertson, (part of our China party) were in the vicinity and while driving past a gas station in Brinchang I saw a flash of a white pair of legs, not common in these parts let me tell you! I said to Lawrie, "I am sure that was Paul" so we swung around and low and behold it was. Paul had just walked out to stand and watch the traffic - how lucky was that. We had planned to give them a ring on their satellite phone that evening. It was a great night, much chatter and a few wines, all camped at the gas station amongst the tea plantations. It was great to have company for travelling. After a hearty breaky we set off north. Jill wanted to see Penang Island, although Lawrie and I had seen it we were happy to visit it again. The road construction through the highlands was an amazing engineering feat, photos not really capturing the workmanship of what they have done. Today we saw our first Nissan Safari!.

Heading north we had a lovely drive through paddy fields, rubber tree plantations lining the road side and numerous bush fires. New development is everywhere. The schools are immaculately kept and mostly new. We were pushing to get as close to the Thailand border as we could, because of the unrest in Southern Thailand we really wanted to get a good couple of 100 km's between us and the border.

The next day, we were heading for Kuala Kedah. We stopped off at a little fishing village just south of there and found one of the locals spoke excellent English. He invited us back to see his fishing business. He pointed out many boats had been smashed on the river banks from the Tsunami. It was our first sighting of any of the damage caused by it. While we were there one of the boats came in and unloaded its catch,for the day. All squid and destined for the Japanese market.

Home tonight was another petrol station. A noisy stop as they were open 24 Jam (24 hr) but it was fun watching all the locals whiz by on their motorbikes. Some were so overloaded with produce others with people - quite a sight.

Over all Malaysia has been interesting and we have really enjoyed it - Bring on Thailand!

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